In 1701, in the shogun's palace, Asano Naganori drew his sword and attacked Kira Yoshinaka, the highest-ranking master of protocol. Asano was immediately forced to commit seppuku. At the end of the following year, his 47 master-less retainers avenged their master's death by attacking and beheading Kira at his residence in Ryōgoku. This story of loyalty soon became a timeless classic known as Chūshingura.

Mount Fuji erupted and spewed ash on Edo in 1707. In 1855, the Great Edo Earthquake occurred.

Edo had more a population of more than 1 million by the mid-eighteenth century.

The bakumatsu era saw an increase in political activity. In 1860 Ii Naosuke, who favored opening Japan to the West, was assassinated by an anti-foreign rebel samurai. Japan's last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, surrendered power to the emperor in 1867 and fled Edo in 1868 following military defeat by powerful provincial powers seeking power in the name of the Emperor.

Modern History

1868 With the Meiji Restoration, the ruler of Japan shifts from the shogun to an oligarchy ruling under the banner of the emperor. Edo is renamed as Tokyo (Tokio), meaning "Eastern Capital", as ordered by Emperor Meiji.

1869 Emperor Meiji moves to Tokyo and makes Tokyo Castle the Imperial Palace. However, the capital was never legally "transferred" from Kyoto to Tokyo, making some people believe that Kyoto may still be the capital, or a co-capital today. See: Capital of Japan. Samurai from the Satsuma and Chōshū (and other) regions, having defeated the Tokugawa, take crucial roles in the new ruling oligarchy. A foreigner settlement is established at Tsukiji.

1871 The feudal han system is abolished to establish the prefectural system. Tokyo Prefecture is thereby established.

In an attempted coup (the February 26 Incident), nearly 1500 junior officers of Japan's army occupied the National Diet Building, the Kantei (Prime Minister's Residence) and other key locations in Tokyo. The coup was suppressed by the Army and Navy within three days.

1942 Tokyo suffers the Doolittle Raid, its first air raid by US bombers, soon after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 1941.

1943 Tokyo Prefecture and Tokyo city merge to form Tokyo Metropolis or Tokyo-to, commonly called "Tokyo." Since this time, no city in Japan has had the name "Tokyo."

1945 Tokyo was heavily bombed, and much of the city was burned to the ground by heavy bombardment by B-29 and other aircraft. Extensive tracts of land were leveled both by the explosions and by the subsequent fires. The damage was not limited to the former Tokyo City, but extended to Hachioji and other cities in western Tokyo, as the bombers targeted air bases, transportation facilities, and strategically important manufacturing plants. From February to March, the Battle of Iwo Jima was fought on Iwo Jima. Due to the heavy death toll and populace fleeing to the countryside, the population in 1945 was only half that of 1940. From September on, Tokyo is under military occupation and governed by the Allied forces, and the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands) was separated to U.S. military occupation. General Douglas MacArthur established the occupation headquarters in what is now the DN Tower 21 (formerly the Dai-Ichi Seimei building) overlooking the Imperial Palace. The American presence in Tokyo made it an important command and logistics center during the Korean War. Tokyo still hosts Yokota Air Base and a small number of minor U.S. military installations.

1961 The Hibiya subway line opens between Minami-senju and Naka-Okachimachi.

1962 The population of Tokyo was estimated as over 10,000,000, the largest city in the world. The first line of the Shuto Expressway is on service.

1964 The Tōkaidō Shinkansen opens on October 1 in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games starting on October 10. Tokyo's re-emergence from wartime trauma was complete at the 1964 Summer Olympics, which publicized the city on an international stage and brought global attention to the "economic miracle".

1968 The Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands) are returned to Japan and become a part of Tokyo, Ogasawara Village. The Tōmei Expressway is opened, and Tokyo Inter Change, the origin of this way is in Setegaya Ward, and connected to the center of Tokyo by the Shuto Expressway.

1971 In the south-western area of Tokyo, Tama New Town accepted its first regidents.

2008Tokyo 2016 Olympic bid is recognized to one of the official candidates from IOC. Tokyo Metro begins the operation of its Fukutoshin Line, and announces it won't construct additional sections. The length of subway network is nearly 400km.

Anticipated events

2011 Completion of Sumida Tower, Japan's tallest structure (about 610m high displacing the CN Tower in Toronto as the world's tallest free-standing structure). Completion of the renovation of Tokyo Station.